After months of elaborate pre-wedding celebrations, India’s wealthiest family is expected to spend over $100 million, potentially far more, on their son’s nuptials, making it one of the most expensive weddings in modern history.
Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s four-day wedding will feature extraordinary decorations, numerous celebrity performances, and guests from politics, business, sports, and the arts.
Anant Ambani is the youngest child of Mukesh Ambani, the director of Reliance Industries and the 11th richest man in the world according to Forbes. Radhika Merchant comes from a prominent family as well, with parents who are multimillionaire pharmaceutical executives.
The Ambani family has not publicly disclosed the total cost of the wedding. Estimates, however, range from $150 million to over half a billion dollars, covering everything from musicians and private jets to a feast for nearby underprivileged communities, as reported by the BBC and the India Times.
Due to the high number of international and Indian politicians expected to attend, including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Mumbai police have declared the wedding a public event, according to the BBC. Roads near the event were sealed off to non-wedding guests as the groom led a convoy of luxury vehicles to kick off the festivities.
This weekend’s celebration is the culmination of numerous events honoring Ambani and Merchant. In March, the Ambani family hosted over a thousand people at their estate in Jamnagar, India, including notable figures like Mark Zuckerberg, Hillary Clinton, and Ivanka Trump. The family constructed a glass palace inspired by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Palm House and hired Rihanna for her first full-length concert in nearly a decade.
“I wanted to be fun, free, and young,” Merchant told Vogue about the all-night party following Rihanna’s performance. “An Indian wedding is incomplete without a lot of dancing.”
In late May, the couple held another pre-wedding celebration on the Mediterranean Sea, hosting 1,200 people for a four-day cruise beginning in Palermo, Italy, with stops throughout the region. In Cannes, guests were surprised by a Katy Perry concert. Afterward, another concert featured Pitbull. A stop in Portofino showcased acclaimed opera singer Andrea Bocelli.
“It was just the most magical evening,” Merchant said to Vogue of Bocelli’s performance. “I had goosebumps.”